BIRMINGHAM, Ala. – The Valdosta State volleyball team learned Tuesday that it was picked tied for fourth in the 2025 Gulf South Conference Preseason Coaches Poll.  The Blazers garnered 66 points as did Mississippi College.
 
Reigning league champion West Florida was picked to win the league with 100 points and ten of 11 first-place votes, while UAH was picked second with the remaining first-place nod and 91 points.  Lee checked in at third with 71 points, while VSU and MC were tied for fourth.  
 
Montevallo and Trevecca Nazarene were tied for sixth in the poll with 53 points, while Union was eighth (35), followed by Auburn Montgomery (31) and West Alabama rounded out the top ten (27).  Christian Brothers was 11^th with 12 points.

The Blazers had two players named to the 2025 GSC Newcomer Watchlist in graduate transfer Macy Brown and junior transfer Eimy Negron Domenech.  Brown came to VSU from University of New Haven where she was named the Northeast-10 Player of the Year, NE-10 Championship MVP and first team all-league in 2023.  She had a standout career at New Haven in four seasons earning all-league honors three times.
 
Negron Domenech transferred to VSU from Hillsborough Community College where she played in 60 matches with 31 kills while registering 223 assists and 77 aces.  She had She had 985 digs in 208 career sets and prepped at Osceola High School in Orlando.
 
Head coach Kayleigh Zoucha begins her eighth season at the helm of the program as she led the team to a 19-12 record in 2024 and a 13-7 mark in GSC play.  The 19 wins in 2024 marked back-to-back 19-win seasons and the most wins in a season in Zoucha's tenure at VSU.  The 19-12 record in 2024 marked Zoucha's best season in terms of winning percentage in her time in Titletown.
 
Zoucha welcomes back senior Ava Young who played in all 30 matches with 14 starts registering 67 kills in 203 swings (.153) with 64 total blocks and 21 solo rejections.  Also returning this season is senior Sabrina Oncins who played in 30 matches with ten starts registering 84 kills for the year, while recording 152 digs and had ten blocks.  Senior Katie Callenberger returns as well, as she started all 31 matches finishing fourth on the team in kills with 223 in 2024.  She hit .285 for the season and registered 66 blocks and 26 solo rejections for the season.  
 
Also returning for the Blazers are sophomores Mia Verger, Ava Keuntjes and Avery Mullins, along with senior Kennedy Hairston and junior Hailey Holder for Zoucha's 2025 team.
 
The Blazers open the 2025 season with No. 24-ranked Grand Valley State (Mich.) in Golden, Colo., on Sept. 5 at 4 p.m. ET in the Oredigger Volleyball Classic hosted by Colorado School of Mines.  VSU will face the host Orediggers, along with Colorado Christian and Washburn (Kan.) on the opening weekend.  Fans can access links to live stats and streaming of the matches at vstateblazers.com on the volleyball schedule page.  
 
VSU opens the 2025 home slate on Sept. 12-13, with the VSU Fall Tournament at The Complex featuring a total of nine matches as the Blazers will face Shorter, Palm Beach Atlantic and Georgia College during the tournament.  
 
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